a plane, swift and agile, start it whirling
like a pinwheel with the tip of its own wing as an axis, and fall for
thousands of feet as it whirled, only to catch himself and right the
speedy plane when lees than a thousand feet from the earth, was indeed
a sight to make one hold one's breath.

Jimmy Hill learned a dodge that interested older aviators. Looping
the loop sidewise, he would catch the plane when upside down, and shoot
away at a tangent, head down, the machine absolutely inverted---then
continue the side loop, bringing him back to upright again some
distance from where he had originally begun his evolution.

Watching him at this stunt, a veteran pilot said to the chief one
morning: "That turn will save that kid's life one day. See if it don't."
And sure enough, one day, it did.

Harry learned what a French friend had told him the great Guynemer,
king of all French fliers, had christened "the dead leaf." With
the plane bottom side up, the pilot lets it fall, now whirling downward,
now seeming to hang for a moment, suspended in midair, now caught by
an eddy and tossed upward, just like a dead leaf is tossed by an
autumn wind.

Joe could nose-dive to perfection. He would hover high up, at well
over ten thousand feet from the ground, then drop straight for the
earth, like a plummet, nose directly downward, seemingly bent on
destruction. When still at a safe distance up, he would gradually
ease his rush through the air by "teasing her a bit," as he called
it. Then, before the eye from below could follow his evolutions,
he would be skimming off on a level course like a swallow.

The day came at last when the squadron was "moved up front" for actual
work over the enemy's lines. The Brighton boys were ready and eager
to give a good account of themselves, and soon they were to be
accorded ample opportunity.

CHAPTER VI

THE FIGHT IN THE AIR

The morning on which the Brighton boys left the base airdrome with
their squadron saw the first sunshine that that part of France had
known for several days. The line of light motor trucks which served
as their transport skimmed along the long, straight roads as if aware
that they carried the cavalry of the air.

"France is a pretty country. I had no idea it would look so much like
home. Those fields and the hills beyond might be right back where we
come from, boys," said Archie Fox.

"Wait till you youngsters get up a bit," advised a companion who ha